poe426 DALEKS' INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D. has quite a bit going for it: it's big budget, widescreen DR. WHO, for one thing; it also boasts some excellent special effects -not to mention the Daleks themselves; and here we even see an amphibious Dalek early in the movie (and the Daleks throughout are more mobile than previously seen); and then there's Andrew Keir (Dr. Quatermass himself) as a resistance fighter. He almost steals the show. Peter Cushing as The Doctor is a bit doddering and low key, but even these aspects of his personality would've been more tolerable if he'd had more to do: Cushing's part almost amounts to little more than a cameo. Well crafted but definitely aimed at the younger members of the audience, DALEKS' INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D. is fun for kids of all ages.

Leofwine_draca I sat through, and was utterly bored by, the first of the Peter Cushing/Dr Who movies, DR WHO AND THE DALEKS. It was a chore to sit through in places, a resolutely twee attempt to transfer the TV series to the big screen for children to enjoy. The good news is that this sequel is a different beast entirely, even though it brings back much of the same cast and crew (including the director).Put simply, DALEKS INVASION EARTH: 2150 AD is an action-packed romp. If you think that scenes of Dalek war-bands patrolling the streets of a post-apocalyptic London sounds like a good time, then you'd be right. This is a film that sacrifices character set-up in favour of all out action, and it works a treat.Cushing plays the crusty old buffoon once more, and the only reason he's not as irritating is because he's given far less screen time here. For most of the time his character is a mere observer, watching a guerrilla war between Ray Brooks (THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW) and his rebels and the Daleks and their goons. Bernard Cribbins contributes some comedy schtick, but he's nowhere near as irritating as Roy Castle was in the last one.The technical effects are surprisingly decent, from the Dalek spaceships to the explosions, firefights, and large-scale destruction. Scenes of buildings collapsing are vivid and exciting and the Daleks are more of a menace here (and thankfully their voices aren't irritating anymore). There are lots of great visual moments, like the solitary Dalek rising out of the Thames or the humans vs. Dalek fight scenes. A rousing score and decent supporting cast serve as the icing on the cake here.

grendelkhan I must be the odd man out, as I greatly enjoy the Who movies, despite their bad reputation amongst the Who faithful. Granted, I was never a rabid fan of the series, though I enjoyed much of it. These things are a bit lighter, but equally thrilling.This sequel finds the Doctor and family back on Earth, just in time to meet police constable Tom Campbell, who runs into the TARDIS (which appears to be a police callbox) to call in a robbery. However, we soon learn that the Doctor's granddaughter Barbara, and her boyfriend Ian, are now gone. In Barbara's place is a niece, Louise. I suppose if the series had continued, and actors continued to be unavailable, we might have had quite a brood of Whos. Louise isn't quite up to Barbara's standards, but Tom makes a fine addition. Our group soon find themselves in 2150, to find London in rubble and the Daleks in control, aided by their zombie-like Robomen. The Doctor and Susan fall in with a resistance group, while Tom and Louise find themselves on a Dalek ship. Louise succeeds in hiding while Tom, the Doctor, and a rebel leader are caught by the Daleks. They are about to be turned into Robomen when the resistance strikes. Unfortunately, Tom finds himself stuck onboard for a while, though he and Louise eventually make their escape. Susan flees with Wyler, a reluctant rebel. The Doctor finds his way to a mine, where it turns out the Daleks are have a shaft dug to launch a bomb into the Earth's core. The resulting explosion will propel the Earth like a spaceship, though it will likely kill all life on the planet. Eventually, everyone converges on the mine to stop the Daleks.The returning Peter Cushing and Roberta Tovey are joined by Jill Curzon as Louise and Bernard Cribbins as Tom. Curzon is adequate, but the role isn't quite as rounded as Barbara and Curzon isn't quite as lively as Jennie Linden. Cribbins makes for a wonderful addition, bringing many comedic touches, while still managing to be a physical hero. Cribbins who later find himself in the TV Who, joining the revived series in recent years. Andrew Keir is Wyler, the reluctant rebel, who finds himself paired with the more resolute Susan. Keir specializes in terse authority figures and has a commanding presence. Philip Madoc is memorable in a small but pivotal role as Brockley, a turncoat. madoc is delightfully slimy and gets his just rewards.The film is more down-to-earth (pun intended) with the more fantastic sets reserved for the Dalek ship and mine base. Otherwise, everything else looks like 60s Britain (though with London looking like after the Blitz). The Dalek ship is a great set, large enough to accommodate a great action piece, when the rebels attack the ship, while having a variety of chambers for various scenes. The exterior model is quite good and looks rather convincing (for the period). There is more action here than in the first film, which was more mystery driven. It's more mundane, but just as compelling.The film is a fine adventure and makes for entertaining viewing. i suggest watching it as a double feature with Dr. Who and the Daleks, to really appreciate things. Keep in mind that it was aimed at children, so things are simpler than the TV series, but it is not childish. The story is streamlined but well constructed. If you are like me, you will end up wishing they had produced more films in the series. As it stands, these make for a fine alternate universe Doctor Who.

James Hitchcock Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Baker T, Davison, Baker C, McCoy, McGann, Eccleston, Tennant, Smith.To the "Doctor Who" fan these names trip off the tongue as easily as do the Kings and Queens of England to the historian or the current England batting line-up to the cricket lover. Yet there is one name missing from the Timelords Cricket Club First Eleven: Peter Cushing, who doesn't even make it onto the scorecard as twelfth man. Although Cushing played the Doctor in two films from the mid-sixties, of which this is the second, he is generally omitted from the "official" sequence; the current incumbent, Matt Smith, is regarded as the Eleventh Doctor, not the Twelfth.Although William Hartnell was the British television Doctor at the time, for some reason he was not asked to play the role in the films, even though both were based upon television episodes which he had appeared in. The films make no mention of the Doctor being a member of the alien Timelord race; he is presumed to be a human scientist and inventor, and this deviation from one of the key premises of the television series is doubtless the reason for Cushing's banishment from the official canon. Something else missing from the film is the television version's very distinctive electronic theme tune.Yet in many ways the films remain faithful to the original concept. As in the original the Doctor has the ability to travel through space and time in his Tardis, a time machine which from the outside appears to be a police box. (In the sixties police boxes were a common sight on the streets of British cities; since 1969 they have largely been phased out, but the Tardis has always retained its original design). As in the original the Doctor is accompanied on his travels by female companions, in this case his niece Louise and his granddaughter Susan. (Susan also appeared in the early Hartnell episodes, although there she was played by Carole Anne Ford as a young woman in her early twenties; here she is played by Roberta Tovey as a young girl). Both films feature the Doctor's most iconic enemies, the Daleks.In some ways, in fact, the films look forward to the future of the franchise. In 1965 when the first film, "Dr. Who and the Daleks", came out, only one actor had played the Doctor on television. Cushing's interpretation of the role is quite different to Hartnell's. Both Doctors are elderly, but whereas Hartnell's was impatient and testy, Cushing's is eccentric but kindly, a well-spoken English gentleman. Cushing may have influenced the development of the television series; after Hartnell was replaced by Patrick Troughton it became a feature of the franchise that whenever the Doctor "regenerated" himself his new incarnation was quite different, in both looks and personality, to the previous one. In his personality Cushing seems to prefigure Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor and in his dress Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor.The title, "Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.", effectively summarises the plot. The Doctor, Louise and Susan, accompanied by a London policeman named Tom Campbell, travel forward in time to the year 2150. They find that the Daleks have invaded Earth and imposed their rule on the human population. London has been reduced to ruins and its surviving inhabitants forced underground, where resistance to Dalek rule is forming. The story tells how the Doctor assists these movements to liberate the planet from the Daleks. Although the story ostensibly takes place nearly two hundred years into the future, the recently-ruined city bears a much closer resemblance to the London of 1966 than to anything futuristic. Perhaps the film should have been titled "Daleks' Invasion Earth: 1967 A.D." We even see an advertisement for Sugar Puffs, a popular breakfast cereal of the time; this was, apparently, a piece of product placement as the manufacturers were sponsoring the film. They obviously liked the idea that their products would still be popular in the mid-22nd century.Objectively speaking, this is not a very good film. The acting is generally undistinguished, although Peter Cushing's interpretation of the Doctor is as good as any, and in my view better than Hartnell's. The attempts at comic relief, mostly involving Bernard Cribbins's Tom, are never really successful. Like a number of science-fiction films, the "science" involved is pure fiction; the Daleks' master-plan, apparently, is to remove the Earth's core and replace it with a giant motor, thus turning the planet into a gigantic spaceship which the Daleks will use to return to their home planet. (It's easy when you know how). There are some curious permutations of geography; Bedfordshire, one of England's least spectacular counties, has suddenly acquired mountains far more spectacular than the Dunstable Downs, and Wren's famous spire of St-Dunstan-in-the-East seems to have relocated itself from the north bank of the Thames to the South. And the film suffers from that frequent curse of sixties sci-fi; cheap, dodgy-looking special effects. It was not a success at the box office and a planned third Doctor Who film was cancelled.Yet like most Britons of my generation who grew up in the sixties and seventies I am quite unable to be objective about "Doctor Who". This film has not dated well, but I doubt if many of the television adventures of the Doctor, which we spent so many hours eagerly discussing in our school playgrounds, would stand up well in the cold light of day of 2011. For the pleasures of nostalgia, if for no other reason, even a "non-canonical" Doctor Who adventure is still worth watching. 5/10